Chapter 9
Instead, John stood there on the verge of tears, looking up at the stage. “Willow, I’m here to take you home. I know we made a lot of mistakes, but that’s all in the past now. I’ve also looked into everything Vanessa did to you.”
So it turned out that clearing my name had never been all that difficult. Back then, I tried so hard to defend myself, but no one believed me.
Maybe it wasn’t that they couldn’t see Vanessa’s little schemes. Maybe they just didn’t care how I felt. If letting her step on me made her happy, they were more than willing to turn a blind eye.
Standing there, John looked noticeably worn out. His face was unshaven, shirt wrinkled, and a sharp smell of alcohol clung to him.
Nathan frowned, clearly annoyed. “John, have you lost your mind? Today is my wedding day with Willow. What are you doing here?”
Instead of backing down, John snapped, his voice tight with emotion. “I’m not the crazy one. You are! Willow was supposed to marry me. She is mine! I was the one who stood by her side during all those years you were in a coma. We were good together. She’s only marrying you to spite me!”
I glanced at Nathan nervously, afraid he might actually believe John’s nonsense, but Nathan just raised an eyebrow and smirked. “Wow, so all those years and you still couldn’t win her over? Sounds like I’m just more irresistible than you.”
I lowered my head, covering my mouth as I smiled.
“You seriously think she loves you?” John snapped. “She doesn’t love you. She was just hurt and needed someone to stand up for her and to fight back for her. If you weren’t the Stone family’s heir, do you really think she would marry you?”
Nathan replied, “Well, luck for me. I’m the Stone family’s heir.”
John was completely speechless.
Nathan glanced calmly at his watch and said, “Look at the time. We should start the toasts. Mr. Webb, are you staying to join us? Maybe help me handle the drinks? I heard that you hold your liquor pretty well.”
John looked like he had more to say, but before he could get another word out, his family rushed in and dragged him away.
His younger siblings trailed behind, and with awkward smiles on their faces, they kept apologizing to Nathan. “John’s lost it. Please don’t take it to heart, Mr. Stone.”
Nathan replied, “It’s my wedding today. I don’t have time for nonsense like that. Just stay away from Willow from now on.”
I thought Keith might show up, but the wedding came and went without a sign of him.
After the last of the wedding guests had left and the night finally quieted down, Nathan turned to me, his expression heavy as he told me Keith had taken his own life.
“After the debt collectors left that morning, Keith completely lost it–screaming, breaking things, sobbing uncontrollably. Vanessa even cursed him out in front of the house staff, calling him useless… A little while later, he walked out. An hour or so after that, the building security found him dead in the lake.”
Did he really drown himself?
Like me, Keith had always been terrified of water. I never imagined he would end up dying that way. Maybe he was punishing
himself.
Later, Nathan reclaimed the Quinn residence. Every now and then, he would accompany me there to sit for a bit.
As for Vanessa, everything under her name was sold off. She came into our lives with nothing, and in the end, she left with nothing. The good life she’d been living these past few years was nothing but a fleeting dream.
1/2
Chapter @
Now, she came to me, begging for forgiveness. “Willow, we’re family. You can’t just watch me end up on the street.”
1 let out a cold laugh. “We were never family.”
As for John, the Webb family sent him overseas. We never spoke again.
Continue Reading
